Nas & DJ Premier: Pre-Matic (Mixtape)

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Every East Coast hip-hop fan has wanted to see a Nas/Premo collab album for years. Well, this isn't quite it, but its dope anyways. It's basically some Nas tracks remixed with Premier instrumentals. It's also got a few real tracks they've done in the past.

Album Review: Talib Kweli "Ear Drum"

Talib Kweli dropped classic albums collaborating with Mos Def and DJ Hi-Tek when he was with Rawkus. Years later, he has yet to make music like he did back then, dropping a series of mediocre solo efforts. This is his first album on his own record label. Let's see if that makes a difference.


EVERYTHING MAN

Not a big fan of the mellowed-out beat but Talib rips his verses. Hopefully a sign of things to come.

NY WEATHER REPORT

Talib sounds hungry on this track too which is good considering he seemed to get worse and worse with each release before this. The beat on this kind of sucks though.

HOSTILE GOSPEL

Not feelin the marching band drums. Or the choir for that matter. Not bad but not too good either.

SAY SOMETHING

This one is all over the place. It comes in with the Lords Of The Underground, “Funky Child” horns and then is just a drum loop then there are like two loops that kick in at random times. Anyway, Talib and Jean Grae come correct on a track about, what else, wack MCs. Not the most novel idea but a hot track.

COUNTRY COUSINS (FEAT. UGK)

Kweli and UGK rap about how they like rappers from everywhere. Surprisingly, whoever made this beat (probably Kanye) nearly pulls of the Earth, Wind, and Fire ( I think?) sample. Cool track anyway.

HOLY MOLY

This is sort of a strange beat. I think Dilla did it which would make sense considering all the weird stuff he did to impress Madlib. Kweli continues to impress my lyrically however.

EAT TO LIVE

A deeper track about being black and under-privileged. This sounds like a bad track off “Beautiful Struggle.”

IN THE MOOD

At this point I can’t even listen to how Talib is rapping because I can’t get passed these awful beats. This beat is a women saying “moooooooooooooooood” with bongo drums.

SOON THE NEW DAY

I never really liked girl tracks. Especially ones over these slow R&B type tracks.

ELECTRIFY

This track is about people criticizing him and stuff. He even mentions people questioning his beat selection which is ironic I guess because this beat is boring as hail.

HELL

Talib raps about religion over yet another underwhelming beat.

MORE OR LESS

I posted the video of this a while back. Just pure heat. Dope concept, execution and of course Hi-Tek comes correct on the beat. Best of the album so far.

THE PERFECT BEAT (Feat. KRS-One)

This track was really ok until KRS ruined it.

HOT THING

Another girl track. While better than the first one, it’s a little stripped-down for its own good. Peace to the fake Pharrell on the hook.

OH MY STARS

Well a kid starts rapping on this which is cliché and is always stupid. Once Kweli kicks in its better but the R&B guys on this ruin it.

LISTEN

The single that came out a while back. The beat is very dope and Talib’s flow is nice too. Definitely one of the album’s better tracks.

OVERALL: Well I’m a little disappointed by this effort. After hearing “Listen” and “More Or Less” I expected big things only to find that they are the album’s best tracks. Still it’s a solid album and probably Kweli’s best since the Reflection Eternal album.

BEST TRACKS: “Say Something”, “More Or Less”, “Listen”

LA The Darkman: "Heist Of The Century"

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There are 2345000 Wu-Tang affiliated albums floating around out there but, other than Killarmy's debut, this is my favroite of them all. LA is easily one of the better Wu-affiliated MCs and their are some bangers on this album.

Album Review: Pharoahe Monch- "Desire"

Pharoahe Monch is a god of underground hip-hop. He was one half of Organized Konfusion who dropped some of the best and most creative boom bap in the golden era. His '99 solo debut, "Internal Affairs" has become sort of a cult classic after being shelved for the illegal use of the infamous godzilla sample in his classic single, "Simon Says." However, other than Masta Ace, how many guys can make good hip-hop for 15+ years?


INTRO
32 seconds of gospel choir

FREE

Pharoahe spits about conspiracies and stuff over a low-budget version of “The Takeover.”

DESIRE (FEAT. SHOWTIME)

Pharoahe’s flow is more smoothed here out which sounds kinda tight. The Alchemist produced this track which has his trademark throwback steez but it sounds like it could be a throwaway from that Prodigy album. There’s also an M.O.P. impersonation (unless its a sample because it doesn't say anything about them actually being on the track) on the hook which seems unrelated but is funny I guess.

PUSH (FEAT. SHOWTIME, MELA MACHINKO, & TOWER OF POWER)

This track has been out forever now and is the theme for the new NBA Street which is completely relevant. A lot of singing and then some rapping which isn’t all that good. The beat is entertaining anyway.

WELCOME TO THE TERRORDOME

This is actually a cover of the Public Enemy classic with some Jazz horns. He does spit a new second verse on some political shit.

WHAT IT IS

A switch-up from the rest of the album with the cold beat that reminds me of “Hell” from his last album. Pharoahe’s verses aren’t really very good at all.

WHEN THE GUN DRAWS (FEAT. MR. PORTER)

Another track that’s been out for a minute, and I’ve never liked it more than now after listening to all this other junk. A continuation of the Organized Konfusion classic, “Stray Bullet.” Instead of rapping from the bullet’s perspective, it’s the gun on this track. Pretty good.

LET’S GO (FEAT. MELA MACHINKO)

Pharoahe’s flow on this is fiyah but the busy beat on this kinda ruins it. What a shame. Still easily one of the better tracks yet.

BODY BABY

If you haven’t heard this, Pharoahe, who has sung and stuff before, goes for the Andre 3000, “Love Below” style here. It’s pretty terrible, especially since he makes dope hip hop.

BAR TRAP (FEAT. MELA MACHINKO)
A girl track over a sped up version of the Gang Starr, Scarface collab, “Betrayal.” We’ve waited eight years for this?

HOLD ON (FEAT. ERYKAH BADU)

Pharoahe raps about a black girl over a pretty funky beat. While it’s not the worst thing I’ve heard on the album, it’s boring and really soft.

SO GOOD

Since a comment about the irony of the song title is too easy I’ll just say it outright. THIS SUCKS.

THE TRILOGY (ACT 1 FEAT. MR. PORTER, ACT 2 FEAT. DWELE, ACT 3 FEAT. TONE)

If Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean taught me anything, it’s that trilogies can be long and confusing. This is 9:24 of lord-knows-what. In all fairness, Act 3 isn’t half bad.

AGENT ORANGE (UK BONUS TRACK)

Hasn’t this been out for like 3 years? Another conspiracy track but better than the others on the album due to the crazy beat. I don’t even know if this will make the album, because my copy says “UK Bonus Track.”

OVERALL: Pharoahe Monch is still a good rapper. Very good even. But this album is absolute bullshit. I feel cheated for having to listen to a guy with one of the best flows in hip hop singing and talking over some old fashioned R&B/Jazz shit.

BEST TRACKS: “Desire”, “Let's Go”, “Agent Orange”

Props Over Here Presents: Rakim Classics

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Rakim was way before his time when he dropped "Paid In Full" and is still nice with it in '07 (check his verse from "Classic", the Nas, KRS, Kanye collab I posted a while back). Here is a mix of some of his classic joints.

1. Paid In Full
2. Waiting For The World To End
3. Follow The Leader
4. After U Die (Unreleased/Produced by Dr. Dre)
5. I Ain't No Joke
6. The Militia II (w/ Gangstarr & W.C.)
7. In The Ghetto
8. When I B On Tha Mic
9. Know The Ledge
10. NY 2 Cali (sorry for the DJ talking)
11. New York (Ya Out There)
12. Eric B. Is President
13. It's Been A Long Time
14. I Know You Got Soul

Sheed gettin' banged on

Andre Iguodala has made posters out of a few guys in his young career, but not like this:


Andre Iguodala Dunks On Rasheed Wallace - MyVideo

Dwight Howard get his grown man on.



LeBron was nice last night. This was not nice.

Hip-Hop Signatures

Since I would imagine the blogging community isn't much different from the message board community, I thought some hip-hop signatures may be useful. If you can't recognize or read small print it's: Sean Price, Murs, Supastition, Raekwon, & Ghostface.

The Beat Generation

In the early 2000's, the UK's BBE records released a series of albums for some of the greatest producers ever. In the words of Pete Rock, "The Concept of the Beat Generation is based on artistic freedom. Major labels wouldn't appreciate the artistic freedom like BBE." Anyway, here are the albums:

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This is my favorite instrumental album ever. A masterpiece from the #1 Soul Brother.

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This has got a few instrumentals but mostly MC tracks including appearences from Grap Luva, Larry-O, Big Daddy Kane, and a lot of piff pocketers. Just some nice tracks by the god.

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I liked Dilla but never really felt this album to be honest. If you liked Donuts or The Shining though I'd recommend this.

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More R&B than the "Return..." but there's some good stuff on here.

Styles P & AZ: The Hardest

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Just a nice little street track produced by the Large Professor. This is gonna be on a Styles P compilation album (i think) but AZ steals the show on the track. If only AZ fucked with producers like Large Pro more often...

Blaq Poet Feat. NYG'z: "N*gga, Ho, Bitch"

Works of Mart is DJ Premier's label with his weed-carriers Blaq Poet (a rap vet, formerly of Screwball) and the NYG'z. Both are on this banger, produced by da god of course. Sorry for the Real Audio. Listen.